Posted on 06/07/2017 10:45:37 AM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
Amazon will now offer discount memberships to its Prime subscription service at a rate of $5.99 each month.
Prime is best known for getting subscribers unlimited free two-day shipping on most items, as well as allowing access to Prime Music, Prime Video, Prime Reading and Prime Photos. For now, the discount is available to people with a valid Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, but Amazon said it plans to expand the lower rate to people on other government assistance programs.
Amazon said a Prime membership helps customers “save time and money.”
“We designed this membership option for customers receiving government assistance to make our everyday selection and savings more accessible, including the many conveniences and entertainment benefits of Prime,” said Greg Greeley,Vice President of Amazon Prime, in a press release.
EBT cards are used to distribute funds from a number of government assistance programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program (WIC) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Programs and distribution mechanisms can vary by state.
As of last month, there were over 21 million households comprising nearly 43 million people on SNAP. Each household’s average monthly benefit is $252.92.
To enroll, people have to provide an eligible EBT number. The service will cost $5.99 a month instead of the usual $10.99 and can be canceled at anytime, but customers can’t use their benefits to pay the monthly fee. They’ll then have access to all of Prime’s deals and services, including a 20 percent discount on diaper subscriptions.
The discounted Prime membership is Amazon’s latest effort to compete with Walmart for low-income shoppers. In January the online retailer announced that starting this summer, people can use food stamps to pay for its online grocery service. Amazon is participating with six other grocery retailers as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture program aimed at eliminating neighborhoods where residents don’t have access to affordable, fresh food. As with the discounted Prime memberships, customers can’t use their government benefits to pay the program fees.
That program will be available in seven pilot states in both rural and urban areas, USDA said. The agency said the experiment will help test online ordering and payment using EBT.
Amazon is offering discounted Prime memberships to people on government assistance. Ted S. Warren AP
And then you also get a 20% discount on Diapers, while the rest of us pay full boat.
So they can access the USDA and check to see of you have a valid card, how can they do that?
Makes we want to drop my Prime Account, unless I can get a $5.99 a month deal also. Unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder if behind the scenes the government is giving Amazon a check for the difference?
If not, then I say, “more power to them”. It’s their dime.
If they can afford this account they wouldn’t need government assistance.
But disabled and pensioned veterans won’t get a discount?
3-2-1 until they demand it be completely free for them.
Amazon is a private business.
They can do what they want.
You are free to not be their customer.
And as a FYI - I can usually find lower prices than Amazon has on the exact same products. But it does require some work.
Some people pay for convenience.
And I am pretty sure that the people using the EBT card are going to be pissed when they find out Amazon doesn’t sell cigarettes.
I wonder if Amazom will limit purchases to necessities or can they purchase really needed things like DVDs and booze?
Disabled Vets should get the discount too.
Did you ever get the Meals on Wheels straightened out in your area?
If someone can afford internet access, a phone, computer or smart TV to watch it on and Amazon prime then why are they receiving food stamps?
The socialist nanny state IS the corporate welfare state
That is one thing progressive and SJW’s will NEVER admit.
Naw, they’re realizing how much more revenue they can gain if they cut prices for a particular market segment.
Capitalism at work!
I like this kind of thing, because it further undercuts the Left’s insistence on confiscating more to redistribute. Destroys the “food desert” arguments, as abundant nutrition can be delivered in 48 hours for less than the SNAP/EBT amount. Dunno the disposables for cloth, and one can live nicely. Off to run the numbers...
We weren’t old enough, from what I heard.
It means that those who pay the full amount for prime are also subsiding it for the free loaders.
Make no mistake, Amazon is not doing this because they actually care about the so-called poor.
Reminds me of when Costco was a very new company. You had to own your own business to be a member. Or something like that.
I remember when they lifted that restriction.
Amazon wants all the customers they can get. Frankly, their prime model is so good the FedGov may eventually consider them a monopoly and try to break them up.
In business, Early Adopters always wind up essentially subsidizing the people who come on board later.
Amazon customer service has always been great for me.
Technical product issues like the Amazon Fire..not so much
You could try contacting them and asking if they would consider a discount on Prime or Prime Pantry shipping because you and your wife really can’t drive and you are a disabled Vet.
Wow. It simply never ends.
for those in areas of the kroger brand of stores..they are doing store pick up where you dont have to get out of the car....and actual delivery in some areas
https://www.kroger.com/topic/clicklist-—select-your-store
Hey Amazon~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Howzabout being so kind to us longtime Amazon Prime customers who loved your speedy/easy deliveries to us w/UPS delivering quickly to our front door and a bell ring!
NOW! You’ve long since entered an biz deal w/USPS and they deliver it, eventually, to the USPS cluster box (gang-box) a block down the street from home, wedged into the too-small “gangbox”, and I now HAVE TO HUMP MY STUFF, HEAVY OR NOT, BACK HOME!!!!
Not good!!!!
AMAZON.com itself a great service now teamed up w/the world-class inept of all disorganizations!
How far could you fall!!!
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I just figured out how Amazon can get their money back.
Can you imagine the value, both economioc and political, in getting an Amazon level specific listing providing very specific demographic profiles?
Would researchers pay for this info? Yes. Government agencies? Manufacturers? Foreign entities? Political parties on both sides?
Amazon is going to wind up making MORE money on this by selling the info of folks (in aggregate, don’t need to violate personal privacy) on government welfare.
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